Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

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The plant, which generates over a quarter of Slovenia’s power and also supplies nearby Croatia, was shut down two hours after the alert message was received by ECURIE, the Commission’s emergency response system, at 5.30pm. Slovenia’s only nuclear plant will remain closed for a few days to allow for the plant to cool down before repairs are carried out.

Despite the alarm, both Slovenian and European Union officials say there is no danger to people or the environment.

Andrej Stritar, head of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, said that there had been a loss of coolant in the primary cooling system of the plant, but gave his word that Krsko had been shut down simply “as a precaution”. He added that there had been “no impact on the environment” and that workers at the plant and other people in the area had not been affected. The incident was classified at the lowest of four levels of emergency as defined by the Slovenian administration.

A Commission official said that the information had been passed on to all EU member states as part of a new policy of “transparency”. But this is the first time the Commission has decided to relay a warning message sent to ECURIE since the emergency response system was set up in 1987 in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. The system, the official said, had received three warnings in 2008 and two in 2006 and 2005.

The official added that the Commission welcomed the way the Slovenian authorities, who were under no obligation to inform ECURIE, had dealt with the matter, stressing that the information they had received had been “very accurate and timely”.

Austria, however, has voiced strong concern at Slovenia’s handling of the situation. In a statement released shortly after the incident, the country’s environment minister, Josef Pröll, said that Slovenia had initially informed him that the closure was a drill. It was only subsequently, through ECURIE rather than from the Slovenians, that Austrian authorities learned that a leak had prompted the closure.

“Even through there has evidently not been any radioactive spill in Krsko, I believe that trust in the notification system has been placed into question in a huge way by Slovenia,” Pröll said.

Although no damage was caused, Wednesday’s incident may reignite EU-wide discussions over the use of nuclear power. Several member states, including Germany and Italy, have already committed to phase out its use. Slovenia currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.